Benefit of unlocked boot loader?

Would someone please explain the benefit of having an unlocked boot loader? Both the Razr and the Rezound have been rooted and you can apply custom roms. I know you won't be able to change the kernel, but in the 2+ years I've had an OD, I've only loaded one new kernel, but I've tried many roms.

I'm starting to waiver on the Nexus. I hate contemplating bloat and unneeded skins, but knowing that both these phones will eventually get ICS I'm wondering if unlocked boot loader is worth it.

Each new rom you have flashed on your OG has changed the kernel most likely. Custom kernels, in my opinion, are the best way to optimize performance and battery life. It is also extremely hard for true AOSP roms to run well without the ability to change the kernel.

After owning my OG an unlocked bootloader is a must if I'm going to buy a new phone. I remember getting less than 8 hours on my OG when it was stock unrooted. After I rooted, ROM'd and OC'd I was pulling in a whopping 15+ hours(depending on usage). That being said I will never buy a phone without an unlocked bootloader so to me it's worth it.

Rescue Squad

An unlocked bootloader allows Rooted or custom images to be flashed to the bootloader using adb or fastboot. For most DROID owners work arounds and hijacks need to be implemented like 2init and init.d in order to get ROMs working and RSD Lite to recover. Or for some HTC and ATRIX, hacks for the bootloader can be used.